Cuttlefish Bandesis Care Qsts.

Blue Ring

Hey farely new to cephs and thought that I would start my ceph adventure with these awesome little guys. After a month of daily research, I found almost everything there is to now about cuttles except a few things. But first I would like to share my plan. I will order 4-5 eggs from Ocean Pro Aquatics. Im only planning on keeping 2 cuttles (hopefully a female and male for a chance of eggs) but will have more eggs in case some dont make it early on. The tank will be a 34gallon red sea (i have one for a reef and it is perfect and functions great!). LR will not be overstocked and there will be a few arches and caves around the tank. The only livestock in there will hopefully be the 2 cuttles, some snails and hermits and a brittle star (I read cuttles tend to leave these guys alone) for a CUC, and of course coral (no LPS just some polyps hopefully zenia and some softies). The eggs will be raised from birth. The ones that hatch will be placed in a breeder net for the 1st month of their lives. After that I will move them to the main tank. At about 2 months, if more than 2 are still happy and well, I will have to find a new home for the others (prolly my LFS). For feeding, they will be fed pods and mysids from birth (hoping to start a culture(5ish gallon tank for shrimp and later on crabs)) up until one month. i will toss the pods into the net and let them go at them but place mysids in for each individual and monitor how many each gets. then i will start freezing dead mysids to wean them onto frozen food. after they are around an inch long (1-2 months) i will start feeding them shore shrimp (hoping to start a culture too after the mysids are gone from the food tank) and hopefully any meaty frozen food if they will readily accept. after 3 months (or around 1.5-2 inches long) hopefully i can stop using live food all together and just use frozen shrimp, silversides, and other meaty marine foods. to keep their hunting skills at their best i will occasionally throw in some live fiddlers and to also give them some fun in their lives.

Now for the qsts.
1) how many mysids(birth to 1month) should i feed each cuddle each day after the pods that will be free floating in the breeder net?
2) how many shore shrimp (1.5-3months) should each cuddle be getting daily?
3) what is the best food for cuttles 3+ months and how many of these should each be getting daily?
4) what is the best temp for the tank to increase longevity and promote mating and viable eggs? I read about some guy who had a cuttle produce 200+ eggs and live longer than he thought it would since his thermometer broke and his tank was at 73F instead of his previous 75-78F. just want to know if cooler temps (not freezing but low 70'sF will do all this.

Colossal Squid

1. the first couple of weeks you may not see them eat, but during the first month I like to feed 2-6 mysids per animal per day if they will take that many.
2. 1-2
3. Depends on what is available to you, and depends on the size of the food item. I am able to purchase 'grass' shrimp (Cragnon), so they get 1-2 a day depending on their appetite. Crabs and shrimp generally are thought to make the best food.
4. 76-80. I have seen no evidence that lower temps are helpful in regards to longetivity or egg production. I have had S. bandensis live to 17-18 months and lay eggs all the while at 78-80 degrees, so I think the story you read may be confusing correlation with causation.

I am not a fan of Ocean Pro for various reasons. If you do a search for them here you can come to your own conclusion.

Blue Ring

thanks a lot thales. also is 34g enough for 2 bandesis cuttles? and are there any other places only that sell cuttle eggs besides ocean pro aquatics? I prefer to order online instead from private aquarists since they dont run out as fast and more keep coming online.

~Dave~"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."-Albert Einstein
"Life is tough, It's even tougher if your stupid" -John Wayne
“I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.” -Winston Churchilll